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Monday, September 7, 2015

DNA test shows body found in Raigad forest Sheena Bora's

The spot near Gagode Budruk village, where local Ganesh Dhene found what is suspected to be Sheena Bora's remains (Pratik Salunke/ HT Photo)

The DNA samples taken from body parts said to be of Sheena Bora — a 22-year-old allegedly murdered in 2012 — matched the blood samples of her mother and former media honcho Indrani Mukerjea, an accused in the crime.

On Monday, a Mumbai court sent Mukerjea and her former driver Shyamvar Rai, both prime accused in Sheena's murder, to judicial custody for 14 days. The third co-accused, Sanjeev Khanna, will be taken to Kolkata for further investigation, sources said.

The samples for the DNA analysis were collected after Sheena's body was exhumed following Mukerjea's arrest in August. Sheena's body was recovered on May 23, 2012, but the lid came off the murder after an anonymous tip-off was received by the Mumbai Police a few weeks ago.

The police have matched Sheena's profile with the digital superimposition on the skull recovered from the Gagode forests in Raigad.

The police have alleged that on April 24, 2012, Indrani and Khanna picked up Sheena from a spot near Bandra in the vehicle driven by Rai. They drove to secluded by-lanes of Bandra where Sheena was allegedly strangulated and the car was then taken to Mukerjea's bungalow garage in Marlow Housing Society in Worli.

Besides recreating the crime sequence on the night of the murder, the police are also seeking to probe at whose behest the crime spot in Gagode was selected and why. They have already recovered the car used in crime.